Perry awoke to a brilliant light in her face. “Great!” she mumbled through sleep-burdened lips. “I’ve landed in a world where fireflies rule and people are the annoying bugs in your face!” She pulled her head back, giving the-no other name for it entered her dream heavy mind yet-bug the chance to fly away. She tried swatting it away, but it didn’t as much as flutter. She reached out and actually touched it, tried to push it, to force it to move. The longer she touched it the more it burned her. Forced to finally pull her hand away, all she gained was a blister on her finger. She hadn’t managed to move the immobile bug one centimeter.

Frustrated, a feeling she often felt after first waking up in whatever new world the day brought her, Perry sat up, avoiding the bright dot in the air. As she moved, though, she hit another one with the side of her head. They were everywhere! Finally on her feet, she surveyed her new surroundings. She saw glimmering dots like her little bug as far as the eye could see. It was almost as if the night sky had dropped to a touching distance. That was one of the two things she somehow knew. It was definitely night time wherever she was. And she was in a city. The buildings lingered in the darkness, but only enough to know they were there. It was more of what she sensed, the hard corners of brick and mortar, the glass and shades of windows, the rhythm of streets and alleys, all this she sensed in the oddly punctuated darkness.

After a few minutes lost in the newness of the moment, another feeling familiar to her, Perry noticed things around her. She was on top of a roof, a very flat roof. She crept over to the edge trying as best as she could to avoid the burning, unmoving dots. One nicked her ear. She jumped off the roof without thinking how far down it was. Perry had jumped off so many things in her lifetime that distance down almost didn’t matter. She was so good at landing the fall was of little consequence.

When she hit the ground this time, she slipped and pitched forward. She stopped mid fall by catching onto two tables that were on both sides of her. Her feet flew into the air and she was able to push off the two tables, flip, and land on the doormat between said tables. “Again, landing like a pro,” she bragged out loud. Of course, she silently noted, it was only about a seven foot drop. “Must be a world of shorter than average folks,” she mused, laughing at her own joke.